Capt. Springer chooses his own path

Capt. Ted Springer isn’t afraid to make some changes to get him closer to the water, and it seems to be working pretty well so far.

Springer, 69, retired from his job in the Budweiser brewery and decided he was going to pursue his life-long passion — fishing. And why not make a little profit off of the venture too?

“I just love to fish, I’ve fished all of my life,” he said, then chuckled. “I got tired of working, got tired of making money. So I got my (captain’s) license and decided to start fishing.”

He moved to Galveston and lived there for nine years, before making his way to Port Mansfield in 2000, where he lives with his wife, Anne, who he has been married to for 43 years. The rest of his family lives in Houston. He currently takes charters out for the Get-A-Way Adventures Lodge in Port Mansfield, and is taking work a bit slower these days — but not his personal fishing, that still takes up the majority of his time.

“I love to catch redfish and trout,” Springer said. The largest trout he has pulled in was an 11-pound, 31-inch fish from the Laguna Madre. He said he doesn’t even know the biggest redfish he’s ever caught. “Shoot I don’t even know, I’ve caught some big ones off of the jetty. Some of those things can get up to 40 pounds. I just like to spend as much time as possible on the water, whenever I can.”

Things at the Laguna Madre aren’t the same as when he was a young fisherman, though he still has high hopes that regulation changes will turn things around.

“I wish people now could see the way the fishing was when I was younger. Now there’s so many people fishing and keeping the fish; it’d be nice if they put a few back,” he said. “It’s changed, but I think it can get back there with some new regulations.”

Springer said he is a bit “too old” to go offshore to drop a line, but he is perfectly happy where he is — wading the waters of his post-career home on the Laguna Madre.

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